See it again: Nope.Own it: No.Recommend it to: People who like an interesting story, but be warned you most likely will be bored after a while. Unless, of course, good acting entertains you more than story.

A special boarding school for children operates to keep the children as healthy as can be, but for what purpose? The children never speak of their parents or their family. They live their lives like experiments, but to what end? Ruth (Keira Knightley), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Kathy (Carey Mulligan) are friends who grow up together in the boarding school and end up living together after they finish only finding that their life is already mapped out. Never Let Me Go.

This is a classic case of the trailer giving away too much. Is there a law that states that a trailer NEEDS to be a certain length and cannot be shorter unless it’s a teaser? Because if the trailer was short and released less information it would have worked out better. I got far too much out of the trailer than I should have. It ruined the movie. Not to mention the LOUD and annoying old, wrinkly people that would not shut up. I moved, but I could still hear their stupid voices. Then there were two morons who couldn’t read the time outside and realize that they were coming in the middle of the film. Therefore, they noisily came in and it took them far too long to figure out that it was in the middle and then they noisily walked out. How can you be that stupid? Drugs? Probably being far too kind.

Andrew Garfield (The Social Network and to be the new Spider-Man) proved, yet again, he is worth any investment. The difference between this character and The Social Network character was the confidence. He lacked it here and had it in The Social Network. It was night and day. He has a weird dorky charm about him that works well for the characters thus far. Knightley was fantastically obnoxious in her role as she should have been. Mulligan was sweet and naïve and far more likeable than her other role that she was nominated for an Oscar. This showed her acting talent off far more than that role. I almost put troll, because that other character was really trollish, to me.

The way they acted after they got out of the boarding school reminded me of homeschool children in an awkward way. That's all.

Never Let Me Go had an interesting premise and it was another adaptation I have not read. I don’t think I could have sat through this book. The idea is great on paper, but sometimes that doesn’t really work and this proved that point. I wanted to feel something. I saw the trailer that morning and thought that maybe this might pull some heartstrings. I saw the video of the Fort Worth Councilman (Joel Burns) who gave a speech about how he felt and dealt with being bullied and his speech was moving. Something I think people can take heed on how to get a great emotional response. I know that’s not what he intended on his speech being about, but for me it’s important that people realize what is and isn’t moving. He is moving. Every single word he said in that speech is almost burned into my memory and that’s twelve minutes of words. Just thinking about it makes me almost cry again. He was not acting, I know that, but his delivery is something that actors try to emulate to get emotional responses from the audience. I feel that this was missing on all levels for Never Let Me Go. So form of emotional connection let alone emotional response. Whether it’s the adaptation’s fault, director’s fault or the actor’s, I don’t know. I don’t care to analyze it. The problem is it did not work.

It could be (oops analyzing) because Mulligan and Garfield didn’t have as much chemistry as they needed to pull of an emotional explosion as the director would hope. Something that would bring about a burning in the memory moment, an emotional triumph without trying. I felt sad for Garfield’s character more than Mulligan’s. He had pain and suffering with his eyes. I believed it.

Never Let Me Go seemed more choppy and disorganized than it needed to be. It didn’t flow as smoothly as a film needs to for a great delivery. It lacked, but had moments that made it worth it. Moments that Garfield was in. Otherwise, I would have greatly let this go and wished to have never seen it.

1 comment:

Never Let Me Go is without a doubt my favourite film of the year, so far. It had the emotional impact that I usually judge a film's quality on. The fact it is not being talked about more is truly a bewildering shame. I fear it will be forgotten, as dramas that do not garner Oscar attention usually do